Today I wanted to talk about baby gear. Over the course of having 5 children, I think we managed to acquire every piece of baby equipment ever invented. I’m kidding of course, but we did end up with a lot of stuff. The funny thing is that baby’s don’t really need much to be happy. …
Saving for the future – September
Here is where we stand for the beginning of September. Our regular savings received the expected $500 and we are also able to put away an extra $386, but…we had to transfer $400 to pay for an auto repair and $76 to cover some bills going out of our checking account. Plus, my new life…
Homeschool: Tips to save you time and money
As a family, we have been a little unconventional over the years. By some people’s standards, we are a little weird. We are vegetarians, we have a large family, and we homeschool all of our children. I am used to not quite fitting the mold. Because of covid, homeschooling is now all the rage. I…
Sacrifices on home improvement
The one home improvement that Christy has really wanted since we moved into our home was a new kitchen. That was 15 years ago and we are on the verge of that happening, just not the way we had planned. As we’ve mentioned many, many times (can you tell I’m bitter yet), I had an…
Electric Usage: August update
As you’ll remember from last month, our electric bill was $318. What in the world was happening over here? I still have no idea. Regardless, we decided to be more intentional with our electric usage this past month, in the hopes that our bill would be lower in August. I was hoping for a dramatic…
Working Toward Retirement – August
Here is our retirement fund update for August. I’m pretty happy to see how the market has been doing lately. Prior to COVID-19, our rate of return on my work 401k was around 17%. During the low of COVID, it got down to 4%. As of today, our rate of return on that account is…
Buying Christmas gifts already?
August is traditionally the time when I start buying Christmas gifts for our children. I know that sounds crazy, but it actually helps our family keep our finances in order during the months leading up to Christmas. By planning ahead, I can avoid pulling money from our savings account to fund our holiday traditions. Starting in…
We’re open for business (A Shameless Self Promotion)
Designs On A Dime is now open for business. We recently launched our new store to 1) Get some of the crazy ideas I have out of my head and bring them into the material world, and 2) To try and find a new income stream to help us support our family of 7 after…
Walking in the woods during quarantine
Before John and I had a million children, we had a million cats and dogs. We used to regularly take our dogs for long walks at a local nature trail. After switching states and starting our family, we stopped prioritizing walking in the woods. Between the kids and the animals, it just felt like a…
Saving for the future – August
Here are the latest numbers for our August savings update. We made a little more headway than we had planned. In addition to the planned $500 into our general savings, we were able to save an additional $236. Not bad. We also earned an additional $14.19 in interest. Our vacation account grew $200 as planned…